It was a chilly day near the end of August, and school was about to start back up for the year. John was nervous. He'd be going into eleventh grade now, and would have to work hard again this year to stay in the STEM Program. At least he'd have all his friends with him, though. That thought was reassuring.

The boy sat on his bed, his blue eyes intensely focused on his DS screen. Over the intense battle music, he heard his dad's voice call from downstairs. "John! Time for dinner!" "I can't dad! I'm right in the middle of fighting the Elite Four!" the boy called back, his attention never leaving the screen, even for a second. He was so distracted by his game that he didn't even realize his dad come into his room and lean against his door frame. "John. Come on, pause the game. Don't you wanna come eat?" his dad asked, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, but this is really important! My career as a Pokemon master depends on it!" the boy told his dad. "Close the game and come downstairs. Besides, I made your favorite tonight. You wouldn't want it to get cold," the older man standing in the door spoke calmly.

"Fine. I'll come downstairs," John sighed, closing the DS and sliding off his bed. As soon as he began to descend, the sharp, wonderful aroma of his dad's cooking hit his nose. Goulash. Oh hell yes. The dark-haired boy nearly fell down the steps as he rushed into the kitchen. "I made it just the way you like it," his dad remarked upon seeing his son come in. "Thanks dad! You're the best!" the brunette nodded, sitting down at the table and saying a quick prayer before eating. A huge smile came onto the boy's face as he ate. His dad's food always tasted really good, and all his friends always teased him (in jest, of course) about how he was shit at cooking. That's OK. He was good at other things. "Are you winning?" his dad asked as he sat down in the chair across from the boy.

"Yeah!" The brunette covered his mouth with his hand as he spoke, "I am! My Vaporeon is super great! His name is Nic Cage, because he's awesome and has totally saved us in a bunch of battles," John laughed. The boy's father simply smiled and nodded, even though he had no idea what the hell a Vaporeon was. "Are you excited for school to start up again, son?" Mr. Egbert asked calmly as he ate. "Mmmm..." John's expression turned to one of distaste, "not really. I mean, school's a lot of work. But I am glad I'll actually get to see my friends on a day-to-day basis. We really didn't get to hang out much this summer, so I'm excited to see everyone again."

"What do you mean you 'really didn't hang out' with your friends this summer? That Dave kid came over like every two weeks, and you went to that lesbian girl's pool party, remember? The one where you dropped your lemonade in the pool?" his dad smiled slightly. "Yeah, I remember that," John laughed. "Still, I didn't really get to see the others too much. It feels like ages since I've seen Jake, or Roxy, or really anyone who's not Dave or Rose," the boy shrugged.

"You'll get to see them soon," Dad Egbert reminded. "Yeah. I know. School starts in a couple days," he nodded, as if preparing himself for delivering a speech to a huge crowd or getting ready to run a triathlon. "Anyways, I made you something as a going-back-to-school surprise," the man told John, standing up and heading back into the kitchen. He opened the oven, which, wasn't actually on, and what he made for John was just in there so it would stay warm. Mr. Egbert removed the cake from the oven, putting it on the counter. John's blue eyes widened, and he could feel himself begin to salivate. Wow, his dad was totally the best ever! The brunette bolted out of his chair and rushed over to where the sweet chocolate babka sat tantalizingly on the white counter top.

The boy held the plate with a piece of the delicious cake on it tightly in his hands as he went back upstairs to continue playing his game. As he sat back down on his bed, he noticed his phone had practically blown up while he was gone. Recently, he'd started using a new messaging application called Pesterchum that his friends had told him about — apparently it was the cool, new, and hip thing, kind of like the internet in the mid-1980s. Except not nearly as revolutionary and groundbreaking.

He unlocked his phone and opened Pesterchum, seeing that his best friend had left him a considerable amount of messages.

TG: dude

TG: john

TG: john answer me

TG: joooooooooohn

TG: i understand if youre in the middle of a battle but dont leave me hangin

TG: my dude are you psyched about school or what

TG: answer whenever you see this i guess

- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 06:30 PM -

EB: hey sorry dave i was having dinner.

EB: my dad made my favorite and there was no way i was gonna pass up my dad's goulash!

EB: besides i didn't wanna be rude nor did i wanna eat cold goulash.

TG: yeah

TG: totally fuckin understandable

TG: well not totally but you get the gist

TG: anyways are you excited about school

EB: not really...but i'm excited i'll get to see you guys more often!

TG: im excited for some weird reason

EB: maybe you're just excited to see everyone again?

TG: yeah probably

TG: shit

TG: i gotta blow this joint but it was nice talking again

EB: yeah!

EB: maybe we can talk more tomorrow?

TG: yes totally

TG: im down for that

TG: anyways bye

EB: bye dave!

- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 06:30 PM -

John was just excited to not have to sit at home all day. Sure, watching his favorite movies was always fun, but it got a little repetitive after the first week of summer. He already replayed all his Pokemon games, reread some books he liked, worked on some programming stuff that ended in utter failure and his dad having to take his laptop to the repair shop for the third time, and, of course, he'd done his summer school work.

He finished up his cake and went back to playing his game, excited to finally be able to see his old friends again.